This policy brief is based in part on the Stern Commission's, a body appointed by Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O’Toole to independently investigate the death of Victoria Snelgrove, final report.

This is not the kind of problem that yields to one-time solutions. Changes in crowd control technology, including the development to new less-lethal weapons, is a continuous and accelerating process, always threatening to leave management out of date. If American police departments are to avoid more injuries and more deaths, they will need to invest—as Boston, Oakland, and Seattle are doing—in the continuous improvement of police management and review.